Consumers desiring longer and thicker eyelashes have traditionally resorted to the use of false eyelashes which are applied with glue to natural eyelashes or to costly lash extensions. As an alternative, various mascara products have been popular. Nevertheless, some eyelashes are just too sparse for just any type of volumizing mascara to make them look more dramatic. On the other hand, even women with a great eyelash fringe may desire a more intense result than may be achieved using their favorite mascara. Features that mascara products are expected to have include the ability to darken, thicken and lengthen the eyelashes so as to achieve eyelashes having a fuller appearance without clumping or flaking off. In addition, it is desirable that the product be water- and/or smudge-resistant yet not be difficult to remove. The cosmetic industry has responded to this demand by providing mascara compositions containing fibers, waxes, and/or bulking or filler agents; however, there are limitations on the amount of such ingredients which can be added to the formulations without reducing processibility of the formula, or interfering both with loading a brush with product and delivering product from the brush to the eyelashes. Also commercially available are fibers for application to mascara-coated eyelashes. A disadvantage associated with such fibers is that when drawn out of a receptacle, the fibers tend to pick up negative charges from the atmosphere which causes them to become statically-charged and to repel one another and fly about. To deal with this issue, fibers have also been formulated into gel products. Nevertheless, fibers in such products often do not sufficiently adhere to the eyelashes upon application or even after dry down but tend to flake off onto the face and into the eyes causing irritation.
There continues to be a need to formulate a fiber-containing composition which will better adhere to the eyelashes, eyebrows or hair to achieve the desired improvements in volume and/or length, and without the aforementioned disadvantages associated with conventional products.